In today’s digital world, a website plays the multi-faceted role of a business card, catalog, portfolio, and billboard. There are over 4.6 billion internet users in the world. When the modern consumer is searching for everything on the internet, can your brand afford not to have an internet presence?
With ever-increasing online competition, a poorly designed website can be detrimental to your business. In fact, Google and other popular search engines show preference to websites that are fast-loading and promise greater user experience.
Whether you have noticed an increase in bounce rate or lack of conversions, your website might be the one to blame. In this post, we’re summarizing certain elements that create a bad user experience and inducing them to exit. Let’s get started.
Difficult-To-Read Font
Choosing a font for your website may not seem important in the big scheme of things. But the font plays a key role in either making your website comprehensible or illegible.
Most websites are text-heavy, and therefore, choosing the right font is crucial for the overall readability of your website. For example, a handwritten font is surely charming, but is it easy to read? If the answer is no, then you need to look at other options.
No White Space
Considering the importance of a website, you may be tempted to make the most of the entire screen space. But filling every corner and not leaving any white space will make visitors overwhelmed. White space is necessary for comprehensibility and easy scannability. After all, you don’t want users to feel like they’re walking through a LED light show in Las Vegas.
Poor Color Scheme
Along with font and white space, a well-throughout color scheme is necessary for improved legibility. Using conflicting color schemes such as red and cyan or green and magenta will make your website an eyesore.
The color scheme should not only be visually appealing but should also represent your brand image. For example, bold and vibrant hues are wonderful but not a suitable choice for a Yoga retreat website.
Neglecting Responsiveness
Did you know that 92.6 percent of the global population browses the internet via mobile devices? If your website is not mobile-friendly, you’re alienating a significant number of your target audience.
Every element of your website, from the layout to the font, should scale well on screens of different sizes. Considering the growing number of smartphone users, every business should opt for a mobile-first web design.
Slow Loading Speed
In today’s fast-paced world, your website cannot take more than a few seconds to load. If your website takes a long time to load, visitors are likely to bounce. Not only will you lose valuable prospects, but a slow-loading website won’t rank well on Google. Speed is one of the metrics considered by search engines to determine rankings.
Random Layout
For the sake of standing out from other websites, many bands go for a random layout that makes little sense. Why is your navigation bar at the bottom of the page? Why are graphics overlapping text? Why do you have a flashing video taking up the entire homepage? A clean layout is a must if you want visitors to stay and actually convert.
Complex Navigation
A user is visiting your website with an intention to learn more about your products, organization, or possibly to make a purchase. You’ll end up with a frustrated visitor if your website doesn’t offer easy navigation.
An invisible navigation menu may make your website look cleaner, but it can be a nightmare for your customers. You don’t want visitors to spend all their time figuring out how the navigation works or where they are on the website. Make navigation easy to spot and maneuver.
Grammatical Errors
A few spelling mistakes on your website may not seem like a big deal, but such errors can create a poor first impression on visitors. From drafting website content to curating LinkedIn automated messages, it’s better to let a professional writer draft content if you lack writing skills. Make sure you use language and tone that’s relevant to your target audience. And, of course, thorough proofreading is indispensable.
Bad Links
A user went through all the trouble of opening your website and finding something they were interested in only to click on a broken link. Bad links lead to poor user experience and may even induce users never to visit your website again. Moreover, bad links negatively impact your ranking and also devalue your SEO efforts.
Using Stock Photos
Stock photos impact your website’s visual appeal as well as credibility. Ideally, photos and graphics should align with your brand image. And generic stock photos fail to do so.
It is worth spending on capturing professional photos or creating custom graphics for your website. You can also repurpose these images for social media content.
No or Bad CTA
Many business owners often forget about including a Call-To-Action on their website. CTAs are crucial for converting visitors into paying customers. Now that users have seen your website, you need to guide them about what to do next. Do you want them to contact you? Do you want them to make a purchase? Your CTA should clearly tell visitors what to do.
Furthermore, the placement of CTAs is equally important. It should be concise and easy to find.
Incompatibility with Browsers
If your website is incompatible with certain popular browsers, then you’ll end up missing out on a number of your prospects.
Forgetting Favicon
Whether users are at work or comparing products from different brands, they tend to open several tabs at once. A favicon makes it possible for users to easily find your website. Otherwise, users might end up exiting your website without even browsing it.
No Contact Information
A dedicated ‘Contact Us’ page or section is a must for every website. Whether a customer has a question or needs a consultation, they should be able to find your contact information without any hassle.
Conclusion
While this isn’t a comprehensive list, it is an extensive checklist to determine if web design pitfalls are driving your customers away. User experience is a top priority when it comes to designing a beautiful and functional website. So figure out what your users want and accordingly deliver.
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